World Series: St. Louis Cardinals' Arthur Rhodes has traveled a long road to the Fall Classic

David Welker/Getty ImagesArthur Rhodes has pitched for nine teams over 20 seasons in the major leagues. He started this season with the Texas Rangers. Now, he's pitching against them as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.

ST. LOUIS — The final piece of the St. Louis Cardinals’ bullpen that has been utilized so successfully en route to the World Series spent two days in August without an employer. On Aug. 8, the Texas Rangers decided to cut Arthur Rhodes, the 41-year-old left-handed relief specialist of 20 major-league seasons.

“The Phillies wanted to sign me,” Rhodes said Thursday afternoon, before he blew the save in the Cardinals' 2-1 loss in Game 2 of the World Series at Busch Stadium. “And they wanted me to go down to (their spring training facility in) Clearwater and get some work in. I told them ‘No.’ Then I decided I was going to sign with St. Louis.”

He joined the Cardinals on Aug. 11. Since then, he has proved to be a useful piece in manager Tony La Russa’s daily bullpen plotting. Rhodes would like to return to this team for next season, then retire.

“I’ve been telling myself that I want to play one more,” Rhodes said. “It doesn’t matter if we win, or when we do win it. I’m coming back, and I want to come back with St. Louis.”

No matter who wins, Rhodes will receive a ring, since his former employer this season is his opponent. The Rangers cut him loose due to his ineffectiveness. Rhodes is not an elite reliever. This season against lefties, his primary responsibility, he has allowed an .873 on-base plus slugging percentage. After the Rangers added Mike Adams and Koji Uehara at the trade deadline, they felt Rhodes was expendable.

“It was just one of those situations where numbers caught us over in Texas, and we had to let Arthur move on,” Rangers manager Ron Washington said. “And he landed in a great spot, and he’s doing a great job for the St. Louis Cardinals.”

But the Rangers got the best of Rhodes on Thursday night. In the ninth inning, when Texas rallied for two runs, La Russa brought in Rhodes to replace Cardinals closer Jason Motte to face Josh Hamilton with runners on first and third and no one out. Hamilton hit a sac fly that scored the tying run.

That was Rhodes’ only batter and he was charged with a blown save.

La Russa needs spare parts to thrive. Rhodes fills that need. His arrival came two weeks after relievers Octavio Dotel and Marc Rzepczynski joined the team via a three-way trade with the Chicago White Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays.

The group of useful relievers allows La Russa to play matchup baseball for much of the game, and reduces his reliance on a starting staff that does not feature much star power right now. Rhodes adds to that mix.

Thursday night was a rare failure in the postseason by the St. Louis bullpen, which had given up just four runs in 31 2/3 innings since the start of the NLCS.

“It’s a real feel-good story for a lot of us because we competed against him so many years,” La Russa said. “And several times our organization talked about adding him in — it just never worked. And you’d see him go someplace else, and you know his reputation, and now you finally have him on your team. What a pro.”

Rhodes debuted as a starter with the Baltimore Orioles in 1991. By 1997, he had converted to middle relief, and that season he finished 20th in the American League MVP balloting. Last season, his 19th, he made his first All-Star team with the Cincinnati Reds.

Yet, Wednesday evening was his first appearance in the World Series. He felt his nerves jitter in the bullpen before the game, and then once more before he struck out Josh Hamilton, the left-handed star of the Texas lineup.

“Once I went into the game, it started to hit me more,” Rhodes said. “I think that’s why I threw two straight balls to Josh Hamilton instead of throwing strikes.

“But after the first couple pitches, then I settled down, and it was all over.”